On Thursday, CNN News Central discussed President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and the even lower approval rating of his management of the economy. They subsequently covered Fitch’s downgrade of the U.S.’s credit score from an AAA to an AA+ on Tuesday because of “deterioration in governance.” Instead of linking the troubling economic conditions to Biden’s policies, CNN quoted Biden’s administration and blamed the previous Trump administration.
CNN’s recent poll showed Biden’s approval ratings at 41 percent, lower than Former President Trump's at the same point in his presidency. “When you compare that to where it was with the modern-era predecessors, he’s down at the bottom,” political director David Chalian said, explaining how Trump and former President Jimmy Carter lost reelection with similarly low approval ratings.
“The economic perceptions of the country right now are also really bad,” Chalian continued. “25 percent say that the economy is good, and 75 percent say it’s bad. 51 percent of Americans in this new poll say that the economy is actually still getting worse. That it is in a downward spiral and still getting worse despite all the recent good economic indicators that we’ve heard about.”
“When the economy is doing okay. That’s the problem,” Host John Berman added his own assertions of a healthy economy and acted surprised that most Americans did not share his optimism.
Like most Americans, Fitch disapproved of how Biden handled the economy and the government’s constant increase in borrowing. They distinguished between the economy's condition and how the economy was handled and subsequently lowered the U.S.’s debt rating.
“Well, Kate, it is safe to say that the White House was frustrated,” senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche said. “They were miffed when they saw this decision from Fitch when they learned of it on Monday. The fact that it happened when it happened and the fact that it was based on what Fitch called the deterioration of governance and not on the relative strength of the economy.”
“And now, treasury yields have jumped to an eight-month high. That impacts student loan rates, auto loans, credit cards, as well as mortgage rates,” host Kate Bolduan explained the negative consequences of the downgrade.
Biden’s administration quickly offered a list of reasons for the lack of confidence in the government’s management, and CNN did its part to promote them. Tausche explained how Biden’s economic woes might actually be Trump’s fault:
And so the forceful response that resulted, you saw the press secretary talking about Republican extremism being the real threat to the economy. You saw the Biden campaign calling it a Trump downgrade, essentially mirroring or echoing the messaging that they crafted during the debt ceiling debate where they said hey, this debt has been accumulated over several centuries, and it was really the predecessor to President Biden that is caused it to balloon, Kate.
CNN started by discussing public disapproval of Biden and his management of the economy and how Fitch downgraded the U.S.’s debt rating well into Biden’s presidency. However, as seems to be the case with most of Biden’s problems, CNN expressed concern that the public could disapprove of Biden and offered the previous administration as a scapegoat for his woes.
CNN's stilted coverage was made possible by Verison's sponsorship.
The Transcript is below, click "expand" to read.
CNN’s News Central
8/3/2023
10:27 AM Eastern
JOHN BERMAN: As you look forward to the general election, all of this dysfunction you might think would put Joe Biden in this great position, but our poll, out hours ago, your poll David Chalian--
DAVID CHALIAN: Our poll.
BERMAN: What does it find about his approval ratings?
CHALIAN: Well, his approval ratings are stuck in the low 40s, and in our curb poll out today, it’s at 41 percent approval rating, and if you look over time, that’s sort of where it has been all year. He had a little uptick after the Democrats over performed in the midterms.
But I want you to understand something about that 41 percent. When you compare that to where it was with the modern-era predecessors, he’s down at the bottom. I mean, Ronald Reagan is the exception to the rule; he was down this low and turned it around for a big reelect. But he’s now below where Donald Trump was at this point in the Trump Presidency. You may recall he only served one term. He is – he’s a little bit above but still in the doldrums there with Jimmy Carter, who was a one term president.
So, it’s not the number they would want to go into the re-elect, but here’s the problem. The economic perceptions of the country right now are also really bad. 25 percent say that the economy is good, and 75 percent say it’s bad. 51 percent of Americans in this new poll say that the economy is actually still getting worse. That it is in a downward spiral and still getting worse despite all the recent good economic indicators that we’ve heard about.
So, this is—this is a challenge for Biden. No incumbent president would want to be here heading into the re-elect. I would just note one thing. His numbers were bad last fall. There were bad perceptions about the economy last fall, and Democrats still over performed to S.E.’s point when democracy or abortion rights and other things rivaled the staples that we look at for how a president will be judged.
KATE BOLDUAN: But hearing that your approval rating on the – on handling the economy is below your already low approval rating–
CHALIAN: Yeah, it’s at 37 percent.
BERMAN: When the economy is doing okay. That’s--.
BOLDUAN: That’s--
BERMAN: -- the problem.
BOLDUAN: That’s a –
CHALIAN: Yeah. Big problem.
BOLDUAN: There we go. It’s good to see you guys.
BERMAN: You guys are all so great. S.E., Anna, David. Thanks to all of you.
[…]
10:34 AM Eastern
BOLDUAN: The first fallout from the Fitch US debt downgrade is coming in the form of interest rates. On Tuesday, the US Government’s debt rating was knocked down by Fitch, one notch to AA+ from the highest AAA rating. And now, treasury yields have jumped to an eight-month high. That impacts student loan rates, auto loans, credit cards, as well as mortgage rates. We’re going to find out how – just how much those mortgage rates were impacted when new numbers drop today at noon.The Biden administration was reportedly sent into a frenzy over Fitch's decision on this. Sources telling CNN the move left Biden’s top aids scrambling to work out how to craft an aggressive response to this. And that began with treasury secretary Janet Yellen.
[…]
10:35 AM Eastern
BOLDUAN: CNN's Kayla Tausche has more on this. She’s joining us now. Kayla, so what are your sources telling you today about what more the Biden administration is planning on doing to go after this?
KAYLA TAUSCHE: Well, Kate, it is safe to say that the White House was frustrated. They were miffed when they saw this decision from Fitch when they learned of it on Monday. The fact that it happened when it happened and the fact that it was based on what Fitch called the deterioration of governance and not on the relative strength of the economy. It is that strength of the economy that made the White House and treasury and the Biden re-election campaign all extremely confident that they believed that Fitch had made in their words a mistake and that they needed to craft a forceful and aggressive response.
A senior administration telling me this about the White House's response once they learned about it from Fitch that 24 hours where they essentially circled the wagons to try to figure out exactly what they needed to say to response. This senior official telling me the view directly from the economic team was that we need to be aggressive in the response. There was unanimity among the top economic officials that this was a mistake by Fitch.
Now, it was not altogether unexpected, Kate. Fitch warned in May that it could downgrade the U.S.’s creditworthiness, and Fitch alerted Treasury with about 24 hours notice that it was going to be making this decision. That’s customary. But the 24 hours that ensued were essentially that period where all of these officials were saying, “hey, wait a second, we don't agree with this. We think that they made a mistake.”
And so the forceful response that resulted, you saw the press secretary talking about Republican extremism being the real threat to the economy. You saw the Biden campaign calling it a Trump downgrade, essentially mirroring or echoing the messaging that they crafted during the debt ceiling debate where they said hey, this debt has been accumulated over several centuries, and it was really the predecessor to President Biden that is caused it to balloon, Kate.
